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Lucapa Diamond Co. has recovered a 130 carat gem-quality diamond from its Lulo Diamond Project in Angola. The 130-carat diamond is the 13th diamond larger than 100 carats the miner has recovered to date and the second recovered so far in 2019 from the mine that produces the highest average US$ per carat alluvial diamond production in the world. Lucapa continues to recover large Special (+10.8 ct) white and fancy colored diamonds at the Lulo diamond concession.

Russian diamond miner Alrosa recently held two auctions of special-sized rough diamonds (+10.8 carats) in Vladivostok and Dubai, earning a total of $18.6 million from the two sales. The miner's haul from the Vladisvostok auction exceeded $9.65 million, with 29 companies from Belgium, India, Israel, the UAE, the USA, Hong Kong and Russia participating. A total of 150 diamonds with a total weight of 2,482 carats were up for sale, with 121 stones (2,030 carats) sold. Two especially large diamonds were sold, weighing 58.92 and 41.48 carats.

Lucara Diamond Corp. has recovered an astonishingly large diamond - 1,758 carats - from its Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana. One of the largest diamonds in recorded history and the largest diamond ever recovered in Botswana, it may not be an immensely valuable clear white Type IIa beauty the miner is famous for - such as the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona or the 813-carat Constellation that fetched a record $63 million for a rough diamond - but it indicates the potential Lucara's state of the art XRT recovery circuit to detect and recover huge gems without breaking them.

Russian diamond miner Alrosa unearthed a gem-quality stone weighing 118.91 carats on April 16th, the eve of the launch of Zarya - a new deposit of ALROSA at Aykhal Mining and Processing Plant. It is the largest gem-quality diamonds found at the ‘International’ pipe over the past two years. The mined crystal is one of the largest gem-quality diamonds extracted from the ground at the mine ‘International’ in recent years; a similar large gem-quality diamond (109.61 carats) was mined here in summer of 2017.

Only weeks after recovering a 425-carat diamond, Petra Diamond's famed Cullinan mine has produced another big stone, this time a 209.9 carat D-Colour Type II diamond. The big diamond is the third +100ct Type II D color gem-quality diamond Petra has recovered since March 2019 and the fourth in this financial year. The find will take some of the sting out of the 7% production decline in the third fiscal quarter due to a slowdown at its Finsch mine in South Africa.

The Graff Lesedi La Rona weighs an awe-inspiring 302.37 carats and is a top D color, with exceptional clarity and both excellent polish and symmetry. The 302.37 carat Graff Lesedi La Rona is touted as the largest highest color, highest clarity diamond ever certified by the GIA, and the world’s largest square emerald cut diamond, expertly cut and polished by Graff’s world leading team of gemmologists and master polishers - a group from Antwerp.

The 'Spectacular 88.22-Carat Oval Diamond', said to be perfect according to every critical criterion, sells at the Sotheby's Hong Kong auction for HK$108 million/US$13.8 million to a Japanese private collector who names the stone the 'Manami Star', after his eldest daughter.

Petra Diamonds has recovered a 425.10-carat, D-Color Type II gem-quality diamond at its famed flagship Cullinan mine in South Africa. This is the second exceptionally large rough diamond and the third special stone the company has unearthed this year, following the recovery of a 100.83-carat D-Colour Type II gem-quality diamond and a 6.12 carat Type II blue stone.

Gem Diamonds unearthed a 161-carat top-quality Type II white diamond at the Letseng mine in Lesotho on 21 March 2019. It is the first recovery announced of a diamond weighing more than 100 carats in 2019, but not their first major find of the year. Last month, Gem recovered a high-quality 13.33-carat Type I pink diamond, which sold for $8,750,360 in Antwerp.

Gem Diamonds, which operates the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, recovered four high-quality diamonds larger than 100 carats in January 2018 and never looked back, riding a record number of +100-carat diamond recoveries in a single calendar year (15) to increased revenues and profit, but they have declined to pay out a dividend. The first big find of the year was the exceptional 910-carat Lesotho Legend, which the miner sold last March for $40 million.

Despite a record year for the recovery of 'specials' (diamonds larger than 10.8 carats), including 33 diamonds in excess of 100 carats, Lucara Diamond earned its lowest revenue in six years due to the lowest average price per carat achieved in five years. Judging by their share prices, however, investors hardly seemed too concerned, as Lucara's stock price took an 8% dip following the announcement, only to regain half its loss back the next day.

Gem Diamonds had a banner year in terms of recoveries, sales and average prices acheived for its diamonds unearthed from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho. In addition to setting a company record for recoveries in a single year of diamonds larger than 100 carats (15) and of diamonds larger than 20 carats (257), in 2018 Gem's carats recovered increased by 13% to 126,875 carats (2017: 111 811 carats), sales jumped 29% to $267 million from $207 million, and the average price rose by 10% to $2,131 per carat, up 10% from $1,930 per carat in 2017.

Alrosa has recovered a unique rough diamond weighing almost 200 carats, which was mined at the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe in mid-January 2019. It is one of the largest diamonds recoverd by the Russian miner in recent years.

Lucara Diamond Corp. has recovered a 127 carat, top white gem diamond from its 100% owned Karowe Diamond mine located in Botswana. Since mining began at Karowe in 2012, a total of 129 diamonds in excess of 100 carats have been recovered, including an astounding 33 in 2018 alone. By way of comparison, Gem Diamonds, famous for its large diamond recoveries from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, recovered a record 15 stones larger than 100 carats this year. Lucara's haul since 2012 includes 12 diamonds larger than 300 carats in size, of which 5 were recovered in 2018.

Gem Diamonds brought 2018 to a close much in the same way that it opened the miner's banner year - with the unearthing of a 125-carat high quality white, Type IIa diamond - recovered from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho. It was the fifteenth diamond greater than 100 carats the London-based miner recovered in 2018. The recovery, which took place on December 20, following the December 19 announcement of the recovery of high quality 101 carat and 71 carat white Type IIa diamonds, both recovered within a twenty four hour period.

Rio Tinto and Dominion Diamond Mines have announced the recovery of the largest known gem-quality diamond ever found in North America. The 552-carat yellow diamond was unearthed in October at the Diavik Diamond Mine, approximately 135 miles south of the Arctic Circle in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Measuring around 3cm by 5.5cm, it is said to be about the size of a chicken egg. "A diamond of this size is completely unexpected for this part of the world and marks a true milestone for diamond mining in North America and Canadamark diamonds overall," the companies said in a statement.

Russian diamond miner AGD Diamonds, which in September acquired an 100% stake in Antwerp-based Grib Diamonds N. V., the international sales arm for rough goods produced at the Grib Diamond Field, held a public auction last week for the sale of special-size diamonds (10.8+), earning a total of $14.1 million. The lots included large-size top-grade diamonds, including a unique bright yellow colored stone weighing 57.03 carats, which had been extracted by the Grib Mining and Processing Unit on June 18, 2018.

Russian diamond giant Alrosa held two auctions of special rough stones (10.8 carats and up) during the month of November, first in Vladivostok and then in Dubai, earning an average of approximately $4,900 from the sale of 4,030 carats, yielding a total of $19.8 million. In Vladivostok, the miner sold 119 gem-quality rough diamonds with a total weight of 1,890 carats for $10.3 million, representing an average price per carat of $5,540. This was the fourth and final auction in Vladivostok, their Far Eastern platform, for 2018. They started holding auctions there in late 2016.

During initial tests of new flood plains being explored near the Lulo diamond project in Angola, Lucapa Diamond Company has discovered of a new alluvial source of large and premium-value diamonds. Lucapa reports a total of 1,502 carats recovered so far from 11,155 bulk cubic metres processed, achieving a diamond grade of 13.5 carats per 100 cubic metres. The sample included 17 specials (+10.8 carats), including an exceptional 55 carat Type IIa D-colour white The average size of the diamond recovered was 1.4 carats.

All signs are pointing upward for Lucapa Diamond Co. these days, with the exception of their rough diamond sales in Q3, which fell by 49% as the miner withheld several exceptional, large and premium-value specials (+10.8 ct.) for sale at a later date. This parcel (pictured) includes a 46-carat pink, and top-color Type IIa white diamonds weighing 114, 85, 75, 70, 62, and 43 carats respectively.

Gem Diamonds has recovered a 357 carat light brown high-quality diamond trom its 70 percent-owned Letšeng mine in Lesotho, representing the 13th stone larger than 100 carats the miner has unearthed this year, a company record. The latest find is Gem's second-largest this year, with their largest being the 910 carat Lesotho Legend, a D color Type IIa diamond recovered in January, which sold for $40 million last March.

Russian diamond miner ALROSA recently concluded an auction of special-sized (10.8 carats and above) rough diamonds in New York, earning $7.9 million from the sale of 1,300 carats for an average price of approximately $6,077 per carat. This by far outstrips the average price the miner recently earned at an auction of the same category of diamonds in Hong Kong, which achieved $4,790 per carat.

CEO of Australia’s Lucapa Diamond Company, Stephen Wetherall, paid a visit to Antwerp recently, where The Diamond Loupe caught up with him. We encountered an optimistic CEO that is clearly excited about the future of Lucapa, and justifiably so. The growing miner operates, together with its partners in Angola, the highest-value and most promising alluvial diamond project in the world - the Lulo Diamond Project.

Russia's ALROSA has sold 2,234 carats worth of special size rough diamonds (larger than 10.8 carats) at an auction in Hong Kong, earning $10.7 million in sales revenue at an average price of $4,790 per carat. The 2,234 carats derived from 136 gem-quality diamonds, including 25 fancy yellow stones weighing 440 carats in total. 54 companies from Hong Kong, mainland China, Belgium, Israel and India took part in the auction.

Rio Tinto and Dominion Diamond Mines have revealed three of the finest large rough diamonds from their Diavik diamond mine in Canada, which will be showcased in Antwerp and Israel before being tendered to diamond specialists from around the world. The three rough diamonds, collectively named “The Diavik Stars of the Arctic”, will highlight a rough diamond tender of 'specials' (diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats) before bids close on October 25.

ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, has sold 'special size' rough diamonds (larger than 10.8 carats) at auction in Vladivostok, with overall revenue amounting to $12.6 million. At its latest sale of large stones, the company sold 108 gem-quality lots with total weight of 2,003 carats. 76 companies from Russia, mainland China, Hong Kong, the US, Israel, Belgium, India and UAE took part in the auction.

Russia's ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, has commenced a rough diamond auction in New York, featuring 81 rare gem-quality 'specials' (diamonds larger then 10.8 carats) discovered in 2017-2018. The auction will include some of ALROSA's most unique recent recoveries, such as a transparent 98-ct diamond with a yellowish hue (pictured above) and a diamond weighing over 100 carats. Both stones were mined at the Yubileinaya pipe in Yakutia.

Lucapa Diamond Co. has announced the recovery of a 114 carat diamond from the alluvial Lulo Diamond Project in Angola, the 11th +100 carat diamond recovered to date from the prolific Lulo diamond field and the third so far in 2018. The 114 carat diamond adds to a significant inventory of large diamonds currently held for a later sale by Lulo mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo.

Following successful auctions of special size rough diamonds (weighing over 10.8 carats) in Vladivostok, New York, Israel and Dubai, Russian miner ALROSA earned total sales revenue of $10.4 million at their latest auction in Hong Kong, which is more than 1.5 times higher than the starting price. In total, 100 gem-quality lots with a total weight of 1,550 carats were sold. The companies from the largest diamond trading centers, including Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel, India, the UAE and Russia, attended the auction. 28 firms were recognized as winners for different lots.

Dominion Diamond Mines will hold an online auction of its latest production of fancy colour and +10.8 carat rough diamonds, in co-operation with I. Hennig Tenders, on Thursday, 19 July 2018. Dominion says the most recent production from the Misery kimberlite pipe, of the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada, has delivered a quantity of exceptional yellow fancy colour stones, which will be presented for sale at the upcoming auction.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA will hold the auctions for the sale of special size rough diamonds (+10.8 carats) in Hong Kong and Vladivostok this June. The auction in Hong Kong will take place on June 13-27, where the company will auction 105 gem-quality lots with total weight of 1,620 carats. The second auction will be held on June 18-29 in Vladivostok, where company plans to auction 130 gem-quality lots with total weight 2,149 carats.

Russian diamond miner ALROSA sold $14.5 million worth of rough diamond specials (+10.8) carats at its recent auction in Israel. The company sold 112 gem-quality lots with a total weight of 1,824 carats, for an approximate average price of $7,950 per carat - approximately the same price ALROSA received per carat at their recent auction in New York ($9,980), where they sold 1,040 carats for $10.38 million. Firms from Israel, Belgium, India, USA and UAE participated in the auction.

Mountain Province Diamonds this morning announced the recovery of a 95 carat gem diamond from the Gahcho Kué mine located in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The diamond was included in the fancies and specials parcel acquired by Mountain Province in the most recent Gahcho Kué production split (Mountain Province owns 49% and De Beers Canada 51% of Gahcho Kué run-of-mine production; they bid monthly on the fancies and specials recovered, with the winning bidder entitled to market those diamonds).

Russian diamond miner ALROSA reopened its representative office in New York and promptly sold 63 lots of special size rough diamonds (+10.8 carats) with a total weight of 1,040 carats for $10.38 million at its first NYC sale in two years. The auction was held in the period from April 23 to May 11, earning a robust average price per carat of approximately $9,980. In total, 50 companies from world’s largest diamond trading centers, including 7 firms from the USA and 43 from Belgium, India, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, took part in it.

Lucapa Diamond has recovered 25 carat yellow gem diamond from the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho during first two days of trial processing following bulk sampling plant modifications, causing them to rethink their expectations for the mine. "Significantly", they note, "the gem-quality Special was recovered from the Neck Zone of the Mothae kimberlite" which is not part of the current +1 million carat resource estimate. They also recovered a 6 carat diamond during the first two days of trial processing of material from the Neck Zone.

Gem Diamonds Limited today announced the recovery of yet another large, high-quality diamond, this time weighing 115 carats. The stone is top white colour Type IIa diamond, recovered from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho. This is the ninth diamond of over 100 carats recovered in 2018, already exceeding the total number of diamonds of over 100 carats recovered in 2017.